Chapter TwelveMature

“Oh Keith,” Alice cried out as she ran up to her grandparent’s front door, “why’d you do that?”

“Because Alice,” he began, “you never did anything to deserve that.”

Alice had spent nearly eight hours at the police department, awaiting news from the detective that would no doubt, probably harm Alice beyond repair. McCabe was cold, almost threatening towards her, the way his shoulders daunted, the way his eyes pierced into Alice’s made her shiver coldly, and there was something about him that was familiar to her... what was it? Had she heard his voice before?

Suddenly it hit her, “your next” he had said before he left, had he said that to her days ago?

“Keith...”

“What is it Alice?”

“The detective... McCabe, he... he said, ‘your next’ to me before he left the prosecutors room... do you remember that phone call we had got when we were staying at the hotel in the city a couple days ago?”

“I do, why?”

“Remember how the man said your next before he hung up?”

“Alice... you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”

“I don’t know... I’m scared, that’s all.”

Was that all? Was she just scared? Or was there more to it that she wouldn’t or couldn’t admit to? How could her life turn upside down in a matter of days? She’s missed a couple days of school, there were several messages on the answering machine from her school, but she hadn’t bothered to listen to them or call her school and inform them on what was going on. She didn’t want to believe any of this, perhaps it was just a dream and she’d wake up at any moment, maybe she’d wake up to both her grandparents, Keith would be normal...

“C’mon Alice, let’s go inside, it’s cold out here.”

“Okay,” Alice answered softly. God knows, she needed Keith; she needed him more than anything right now.

The house was left just the way she had left it earlier in the afternoon, what had Keith done while she was at the police department? What puzzlement, she said to herself.

“Alice,” Keith asked softly in a caring voice, “why do you sound so worried about the statement you just announced to me?”

“What? Oh, I’m not, don’t worry about it... it’s nothing.”

“You sure?” He was persistent; she had to give him that. “If something’s bothering you Alice, please let me know okay?”

“Okay... well, the truth is, right before detective McCabe left the prosecutor’s rooms, he had whispered under his breath ‘you’re next’. And that’s exactly what that man on the phone had said to me several nights ago at the hotel. You do remember that, don’t you?”

Keith sat in complete silence, waiting for all the information he just received to sink in, when it did, he finally replied, “look at me, there’s nothing to stress about, I know me saying ‘don’t worry’ would be like telling water to not be wet. It wouldn’t work. You’re going to worry, and truly, I don’t blame you. I’m fairly worried myself. But calm down for now, okay babe?”

“Okay” she forced a smile.

The night drifted by slowly, Alice sat on her bed, scared to do anything for fear of having another thing go wrong for her. Enough had already gone wrong for her in the past week. Although Keith had finally came out and told her how he truly felt about her, too much has been happening, and she didn’t want to take that chance of losing him and maybe for good this time. Oh, she cared for him... too much; it actually started to hurt her, leaving a deep ache on her heart.

Suddenly, tears started running down her face at rapid fire, when she had noticed she was crying, Keith had already been kneeling in front of her.

Story summary

Just who is Alice Greenbay? No one knows for sure. She had grown up in a small town, where the towns' folk were very quiet, gentle people, who never caused trouble, and for sure, never wanted it. Alice grew up with only her grandparents, she knew very little about her own parents, and was always too afraid to ask her grandparents about them. All she knew about them, they were very young when they had her, age 25 to be exact, and shortly after her mother had given birth to her, they mysteriously

Author guidance

The story follows a girl named Alice Greenbay, she was brought up by her grandparents, not knowing who her parents truly were, Alice is confronted with the truth about her parents when her grandparents are hospitalized... but is it the actual truth? Only time will...

Select a previous page...

Note: Keep in mind that the From: field of the email message sent by this form will contain your email address,
and will therefore be available to the recipient. If you're not comfortable with this, please
close this window.